Wednesday, 22 February 2017

UNIT 5 THE LIGHTER SIDE

·It is a
one act play which depicts the humorous incidents in a village post office.

·This
story takes place in a Christmas season.

·The theme
of the play is centred on a parcel booked by a foreigner in the post office.

·The news of bombs in the parcels of some nearby post
offices make the people fearful

·It is
this fear that made the panic situation more terrible.

·They
become more fearful by the tickling sound from one of the parcels.

·The
assistant of the Post Office calls the police.

·The
police confirm the presence of bomb in the parcel of the foreigner.

·They
immerse it in a bucket of water to defuse it.

·The
foreigner who returns to take his hat from the post office is astonished to see
this.

·It
becomes very humorous when the foreigner reveals the truth that the parcel was
not a bomb but a precious time piece.

·The
foreigner becomes angry and goes to meet the post master general to file a
complaint.

·In the
end the assistant resigns job in the post office.

SUMMARY
OF THE PLAY IN DETAIL: When the play begins we see a postal assistant recollects
the previous day’s incidents. She remarks about her curious customers. But we
see that this postal assistant never loses her temper. She behaves very
politely to the customers. The first customer Mrs.Smith is a lady. She has
rheumatical disease. She comes to buy stamps and a postal order. Next customer
is Mrs.Jones. She is an acquaintance of
Mrs. Smith. She comes to post her Christmas presents. But she behaves very
rudely. We find some other humorous characters who behave in a strange way to
the postal assistant. There is the old gentleman and the fussy old lady. They
too are funny customers. The deaf old man gives odd responses to the questions
of the assistant. The old lady comes to the post office thinking that it is an
animal clinic. The farmer in this play reveals the news about the time bomb
inside a Christmas parcel in London. He warns that if there is bomb in the
parcel, it will make tick sound. People in the post office become fearful. It
is at this time, Mrs. Higgins and her son Bertie comes into the post office.
Bertie behaves in a naughty manner. The play becomes more interesting when a
foreign customer comes into the post office to send Christmas parcel to one of
his friends. His repeated questions about the safety of his parcel really makes
the story interesting. The foreigner
leaves the post office without taking his gloves. Bertie hears a tick sound
from the tourist’s parcel. When others also confirmed it everybody becomes
afraid. The farmer affirmed the parcel as real bomb. Then Bertie calls a
policeman to the scene obeying his mother. At that time, the tourist again
comes to the post office to take back his gloves. He is shocked to see the
policeman. He requests the police man not to throw his parcel into the water.
Everybody in the post office becomes very much afraid and they hide to escape
explosion. At this time the tourist says that it is not a time bomb but just a
clock. The tourist becomes very much
angry and goes to complaint about this. The assistant leaves the post office to
work in animal dispensary. She is very sure that animals will never do silly
things like men.

Model
questions :-

1.
Read the following excerpt from the play “Post Early for Christmas” : (SAY 2016
June)

(a) Mrs. Jones
: I don’t want these presents damaged, miss, so please see that they are
handled very carefully.

A)
a)Mrs.Jones told the assistant that she didn’t want those presents damaged and
requested to ensure that they were handled very carefully. The Assistant replied that they would do
their best.

b)
Policeman asked the madam where she was off to. The assistant replied that she
was leaving the post office forever.

2.
The Literary Club of your School decides to enact the play “Post Early for
Christmas” in connection with the school anniversary. Prepare a script for announcing
the programme climax of the play.

Script:

A)
The play, “Post Early for Christmas” has a village post office as its
background. When the curtain rises, we can see a farmer who comes to the post
office and gives news about the time bomb found in the post office in London.
At this news everybody in the post office becomes afraid. At this time a
ticking sound was heard from the parcel given by a foreigner. The people calls
for the policeman. People tell the
policeman to deactivate the bomb. The policeman throws the parcel into a bucket
of water. At this time the tourist re-enters the scene to take his forgotten
glows. He tells them not to throw the parcel into water. He reveals the truth
that it is a special clock for his friend. He gets angry with the employees in
the post office and decides to inform the post master general. In the climax,
the people in the post office realize the truth and the assistant leaves the
post office to seek work in an animal dispensary.

Dear
Ladies and Gentlemen…….

The
Literary club of ABC Public School proudly presents the humorous, entertainer
and ever green play, “Post Early for Christmas” on 18th September
2016 in connection with the annual day celebrations of our School. This
fantastic play is written by R H Wood, a British Dramatist and it is now
directed by our dear teacher Navaneeth, a new- gen director. The play will be
staged by the budding actors and actresses of our school. The venue of the play
will be at our School auditorium at 2pm.

The
play, “Post Early For Christmas” takes place inside a small post office in an
English village. All the important incidents in the play centres on a parcel
that is mistaken for a time bomb. This
play really makes the people aware of the foolishness they do in their daily
life.

It
would be really a feast for your eyes. Come and enjoy this play with your
friends. You can have your tickets earlier from literary chairman.

Background
and setting : Komala curtains

Light
and sound : Savanna lights and sounds.

3.
The following conversation from the play “Post Early for Christmas” gives us a
picture of the fuss made by the people in a post office, in the name of a
parcel. Read the conversation carefully and prepare two sentences giving
suggestions to the Assistant so that she can handle the situation without
panicking.

Farmer:
If we don’t do something, you’ll find out soon enough, ma’am .

Gentleman:
What’s all the fuss about?

Old
Lady : It’s about a time bomb.

A)
Dear Assistant, You should tell the customers not to be afraid of the time bomb.

Dear Assistant, It’s better to make the
people out from the post office. You ought to inform the police about the time
bomb.

4. “Humour is what adds to the spice
of life. It reduces the tedium of a tension-ridden existence and makes life
healthier. If a sense of humour is developed as a perspective of life, even
unpleasant experiences will become less problematic, thereby enhancing physical
and emotional well-being. (The Lighter Side)

Write an essay on “Laughter is the
best medicine”. (Hints: laughter is contagious-reduces stress response-boosts
immunity-combats depression-relieves pain)

LAUGH AND LIVE MORE!!!

Laughter is the best medicine for all
diseases. If we have happiness, we can approach all challenges of life in a
pleasant way. It adds spice and taste to life. There should be no day in our
life without smile.

One sincere smile can make many
changes. It can convey many messages. Our smiling face sometimes will act as a
boost for others. It will encourage them to do their duties with energy. Here
we can see the contagious power of laughter. By smiling we can make new
friendships. When we approach one with a good smile, it certainly creates smile
on their face too.

Laughter reduces the tension and
stress of our life. When we laugh we forget all our problems and it makes our
life joyful. Even in an unpleasant condition laughter acts a s a medicine. It
helps one to face the challenges of life very easily. If a sense of humour is
developed as a perspective of life, we can prevent unnecessary quarrel.

Laughter also boosts our immunity
power. By laughing our pleasure centres get activated. It will give us immense
happiness and energy. It gives us mental health as well as physical health. If
our minds are happy we can treat all diseases in a calm way. Thus laughter
boosts immunity and keeps our emotional well-being. That’s why we say laughter
expands our life span.

Laughter also helps us to escape from
depression. Life is like a coin. It has two sides. Happiness as well as sorrow.
It is only when we have humour sense we can treat everything in a balanced
manner. It ensures a positive attitude to our life. Smile helps one to get
relief from their painful situations of life and to pick up the burden with
refreshment.

Let me conclude my essay saying that
laughter can make a large difference in our life. It can change our perspective
and thus helps to embrace everything that comes to our life. So let’s all laugh
and be merry always. .

5. “R.H Wood plays are well known for simplicity
of language, dramatic settings and subtle presentation of stock characters.” Is
this statement true with regard to the play “Post Early for Christmas”? Write
an essay.

A) ‘Post Early for Christmas’ is a
humorous and entertaining play written by R.H Wood. It is very much appreciable
in its characterization and humour. The incidents in a post office create a big
bang of laughter in the audience and readers. It is because of the simplicity
and presentation of the characters in an appealing manner.

The whole incidents appear to be very
common. It is very much related to common life situations. All the dialogues
and behaviour of the characters are really funny and interesting. The assistant
is the only one who seems to be normal there. Every other character has their
own speciality . This evokes smile and laughter in us. The play appears to be
very realistic and almost all the characters use simple ordinary language. Each
of their words reflect their behaviour.

Much of the funny moments in the play
are created by the gentleman and the old fat lady. They make the readers laugh
with their comic dialogues. But farmer appears to be a different one. He
involves in everything around him and misleads every one. Thus he makes
controversies in the play. He frightens everybody in the post office by
mentioning of a time tomb. The tourister also creates laughter with his
dialogues. He appears to be a strange man from a foreign country. But in fact
he was an innocent man without any wrong. The presentation of the characters in
the play has helped to treat a normal event very seriously. The final scene
clearly shows us the pathetic condition of the postal assistant who suffers too
much from the customers. She even makes a comment that animals are more
sensible than humans.

The dramatic settings also adds
flavor to the play. All characters act in a realistic manner as to make the
audience enjoy the play well. Even the board kept in the post office ‘Post
Early for Christmas’ itself serves as a message of the play. It helps us to do
everything earlier to avoid any delay and disappointment in life. The mistaken
parcel as a time bomb and the related events are presented in a wonderful
manner. As a whole everything in the play gives us a visual treat. Therefore it
is justifiable to comment that R.H Wood plays are well known for simplicity of
language, dramatic settings and subtle presentation of stock characters

Lesson-2 THIS IS GOING TO HURT
JUST A LITTLE BIT. By Ogden Nash

MODEL
QUESTION:

1.
Write an appreciation of the poem, “This is Going to Hurt Just a Little Bit”

The poem, “This is going to hurt just a
little bit” written by Ogden Nash is a
very funny poem. It is filled with exaggerations, puns and metaphors. It
describes the feeling of a person going to a dentist. The poet portrays the
unpleasant experience of sitting in a dentist chair with fear and terror.

In the beginning of the poem, the poet
shares his unpleasant experience of sitting in a dentist chair. He expresses
his dislike in opening his mouth wide open. Then he describes both physical and
mental tortures related with it. He humorously attributes these tortures as
dental. The poet also writes about the different ugly expressions made by
patient’s fingers on his palm. It makes serious changes in one’s life line,
love line or some other important line.

Next the poet compares one’s mouth to a
damaged road where repair work is going on. The mouth appears to be a place
with stone-crushers, concrete mixers, drills and steam rollers. All the more
the nerves are seriously affected.

The poet now describes the polishing work
which one thinks as demolishing work. This job is done terribly using a mirror.
The poet compares the dentist to an Ursa. Both the dentist and a bear have same
nature. The dentist digs the mouth to repair, the bear uses its fore- arms and
pointed mouth to eat its prey. The dentist takes his crowbar in one hand and
mirror in the other. He polishes the mouth just like polishing a horse’s hoof.

Thus this poem highlights only the negative
sides of pain to make the readers laugh. It treats the essential treatment in
life as a difficult painful process. Though the pain one gets is quite natural
the poet makes use of exaggeration to produce humour.

As this poem focuses on the bad effects it
creates only a feeling of fear and terror in the readers. It never highlights
the honest and careful work of a dentist.

MODEL QUESTIONS:-

1. Bring out the humour in the title “This
is Going to Hurt a Little Bit” by Ogden Nash.

A)
The poem, “This is going to hurt just a little bit” written by Ogden Nash. Since it describes the
feeling of a person going to a dentist, the title is very apt. It describes the
unpleasant experience of sitting in a dentist chair. He uses the word, ‘hurt’
which causes pain. The poet portrays the unpleasant experience of sitting in a
dentist chair with fear and terror.. At the same time he tries to lessen the
intensity of ‘hurt’ by using the phrase ‘just a little bit’. The person sitting
in front of him expresses his dislike in opening his mouth wide open. Then he
describes both physical and mental tortures related with it. He humorously
attributes these tortures as dental.

LESSON 3CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
by R K Narayanan

SUMMARY:

It is a humorous short story. This story really proves the
old saying, “spare the rod and spoil the child”. It highlights the truth that
over caring and over parenting spoil the child. This story brings out a comical
situation between a teacher and his naughty student. The boy was preparing a
test in arithmetic. The test was scheduled and the teacher was preparing the
naughty student for the test. The student provokes the angry teacher by
repeating the wrong answer. At last the teacher beats the little boy. When the boy started crying the teacher
becomes very upset. The boy’s parents were against giving punishments. He is
afraid that the boy’s parents would know this. They were very rich. The boy was
their only child and they did not like anybody beating him. The teacher knew this truth and tried to
console the boy. The boy put forward a condition before the teacher. If he
allowed him to play he would not disclose the truth. At last the teacher
obeyed and the boy wanted him to play
with him. The teacher became very tired and the engine of the toy train was
also damaged. Then the boy wanted him to repair it. When the teacher was not
ready to repair it, he demanded a story from him. The teacher became very tired
after repeating many stories. Then the boy again threatens the teacher and runs
to his parents. The teacher too ran after him. But he could not reach him. The
teacher then stumbled to the portico step. It was at that time, the parents
reached there. The teacher became very afraid and wanted to confess everything.
Then the boy’s father enquired about the test and the boy became very afraid
and hid behind his parents. He looked at the teacher desperately. The teacher
felt sympathy for the boy and replied
that he has won the test. The boy became very happy and thankful to the
teacher. The teacher also told them about the game they were playing to make
him happy. Thus this story brings so
much laughter for the readers.

Possible questions:-

1. A panel discussion on corporal punishment, “ Corporal
Punishment : Is it justifiable?” was conducted in your school. The panelist who spoke first remarked,
Corporal punishment is not altogether bad. Children need some negative
reinforcement when they behave in an undesirable way. Spare the rod and spoil
the child is the dictum.”

Now, prepare a brief script for the next panelist who wants
to counter this argument and highlight the ill-effects of corporal punishment.

A) I don’t agree with the
remark of the first panelist in giving corporal punishment. Corporal punishment
means physical torture. Corporal punishement will influence the personality of
the students. corporal punishment is
less effective. It brings a negative message. It will increase the violence in
the society .It is a violation of human rights. The praise, discussions
regarding values, and positive role models do more to develop character.

2. ‘A teacher is a
friend, philosopher, guide and a mentor to the student’. Analyse the character
of the teacher in the story” Crime and Punishment” in the light of this
statement.

A) R.K Narayan in his story “Crime and Punishment”, strongly
criticizes about the modern teaching methods and over-parenting. It is very
difficult to handle the children nowadays. They don’t pay much respect and
concern for their parents and teachers. The teacher in the story teaches the
little boy with the purpose of claiming thirty rupees monthly. He is not so
patient and gentle to the boy. The boy who is very naughty makes the teacher
more aggressive. When the student repeats the mistake the teacher shows the
boldness to punish him. In this story we can see a teacher who is blackmailed
by his student. Whenever the boy blackmails, we can see a teacher who is very
much afraid of his parents.He lacks the personality of a good teacher. Teacher
is ready to do anything for the boy. The teacher was ready to play the role of
a station master. He even runs behind him. He also appears to be a great
mentor. He understands the feelings of the little boy and adjusts with him. He
tells stories. He feels sorry for beating him.
The teacher was compelled to punish him after the repeated correction.In
the end the teacher feels pity on the pathetic and desperate child. He saves
the boy from his father saying that he was alright with arithmetics. So the teacher in this story doesn’t play the role of a friend, phiolosopher, guide
and mentor. In reality a teacher should be a friend, philosopher, mentor and
guide. But here the teacher cannot act like that. He even considers the boy as
a little gorilla.

3. A panel discussion was conducted in your school on the
topic “Modern Education System-Challenges Ahead.”

Given below is an excerpt from the presentation made by the
panelist during the panel discussion. Educating a child is basically a matter
of caring and nurturing the child. The process of education should open new
vistas of knowledge before the child. As saying goes: ‘nourish the brain
through the senses’. The syllabus and transactional strategies should be
designed in such a way as to make the learners consider education as a fruitful
affair”.

Now prepare a brief script for presentation in the panel
discussion by the next panelist highlighting the practical issues faced by the
teacher in the class room and the means to be adopted to minimize this problem.

A) I totally agree with the first panelist that educating a
child is basically a matter of caring and nurturing the child. As a teacher, it
is his duty to nourish the brain through the senses. But at present teachers
face some practical issues in the class room. Traditionally teachers are
encouraged to believe that learning environment should be orderly and quiet.
But in the present situation learning is to be a cooperative one. Teachers are
giving so much importance to activities. Students take an active role in such
situation. Now the teachers give so much importance be a facilitator. But there
is another side for this. Most of the teachers are not given freedom in the
schools to have a free atmosphere. Teachers
are often compelled to enforce discipline in the class rooms. If any teachers
punish any students for discipline, the parents complaint against them. It makes the teacher helpless
and affects their teaching career. This situation should be changed and the
parents should be well conscious of the punishments the teachers give. The
management or the government should give maximum freedom for the teachers to
make the teaching process an effective one.